Chapter 38

38

T he metal was cold under my hand as I settled my fingers around it. The air conditioner unit kicked on, the mechanical hum eating up the empty silence between us.

So. Much. Silence.

It was a tangible thing hanging between us, strangling and suffocating all at once.

I could feel Remy’s eyes on me as I stood there. I knew he was resisting every single urge to walk across the room and haul me back.

It was a testament to the kind of man he was that he didn’t do just that.

He could have. He could have demanded my submission, my compliance, but that wasn’t the kind of man he was. I loved him for being the guy who would always give me a choice.

But right now, everything was so twisted, so wrong. Confusion swamped me. All I wanted was to hide in my room and cry my eyes out. To lick my wounds in peace.

My wolf felt so far away now. All the rage and passion that had bonded us these last few months was gone, driven away in a few minutes that left me rudderless and adrift in a sea of complete misery.

She felt the chasm between us, driving us apart. As she had done years before, she was going back into hibernation, letting me chart a course for us as she slipped into the background of my mind, behind the chaos and the heartache.

But somewhere in the heavy sludge of fear and unease, I could feel that thin tie linking me to her.

Linking us to him .

Consummated or not, Remy and I were bonded. Our wolves were mates for life, no matter what our human sides decided.

I grabbed onto that tether with everything I had inside of me and held on.

Please, don’t make me regret this.

I turned the lock and stepped away from the door.

Remy was already on his feet when I turned around, his eyes dark but hopeful. His tongue came out, licking his lower lip as he watched me.

I held up a hand, my voice cracking with emotion. “No more secrets. Swear it, Remy. Swear on our bond—”

He was across the room and pulled me into his strong embrace before I could finish. His massive arms practically squeezed the air out of my lungs.

“I swear,” he whispered fiercely, his breath hot against my throat. “I fucking swear. It’s you and me forever.”

“Prove it,” I whispered.

He lifted his head, eyes searching me.

No turning back now .

I stepped back, but he wouldn’t let me go. His arms were loose, but firm, around my waist, so I maneuvered the best I could.

Taking a deep breath, I reached for the hem of my shirt and pulled it off. The shirt slipped out of my shaking hands, pooling at the floor between us.

Heat flared brilliantly in his eyes. “Skye.”

“I’m yours,” I said softly, pressing a hand over his heart. “I want to be yours in every way.”

His chest rose and fell rapidly, lust flaring brightly in his eyes for a second before he shoved it down. His mouth flattened. “No, Skye. No. We’re not doing this to prove a fucking point to your uncle or the Council.”

I covered his mouth with my hand. “This doesn’t have a thing to do with that asshole or anyone else except you and me. I want this. I want to be with you.” I swallowed around the sudden dryness in my throat, positive he would hear the hammering of my heart.

He dropped his forehead to mine, sharing the air with me. “Baby, are you sure?”

I slid my arms around his neck, pressing my chest against his. My soft curves yielded to the hard planes of him. “I choose you , Remy. Now, yesterday, tomorrow, and every single day I’m alive.”

A low growl rumbled in his chest. A warning and a promise. “If we do this, I’m never letting you go, Skye. Ever . Are you sure?”

“Even without the bond, you’re the guy who taught me how to love, Remy,” I told him, needing him to believe what I was saying. “You’re the one who taught me how to live when I didn’t know how. The only world I want to discover is the one that you’re in with me.”

He raised a hand from my waist, tracing the laced edge of my bra. He licked his lips slowly, his throat moving as he swallowed roughly before his eyes met mine.

“You’re sure?” he pressed, his expression bordering on feral. Whatever restraint he had left was slipping.

I inhaled deeply, the rise of my chest making the pads of his fingers brush against my skin. That simple graze of skin against skin set my body on fire. “I’m sure.”

He moved closer, barely a couple of inches, but enough so that I could feel the inferno of his body near mine. The hand not currently exploring my bra splayed wide over my naked stomach. The flesh there trembled under his touch.

“I need you to be completely positive that this is what you want, Skye,” he whispered, dipping his head to kiss the underside of my jaw.

One last chance to back out. One final check to make sure I was giving consent.

I lifted my hands and framed his face. “All I want is you . I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.”

Another low growl vibrated through his chest, his lips curled into a smile that promised all sorts of things that had a low throb starting between my thighs. I pressed them together, trying to relieve the ache.

His eyes lit like twin flames as he caught the subtle movement of my legs. The hand on my stomach dropped lower.

Lower.

My head fell back with a sharp gasp as his knuckles dragged against the zipper of my jeans. The friction was so unsatisfyingly soft, but so incredibly hot, that my knees went freaking weak. I had to grab his shoulders to steady myself.

His teeth caught the tender place where my shoulder curved into my neck. The usually playful nips he often delivered had a little more sting this time, his teeth scraping against the skin with a promise of a lot more.

“You’re mine,” he swore, kissing the flesh he just assaulted.

Mine .

I’d had that word thrown at me more than I cared to remember. My life was never mine . My body was never mine . People like my uncle and Cassian liked to remind me as often as possible that I belonged to them. I was an object to be owned and used. I spent seventeen years of that word being my prison.

And now that same word was the key that opened the lock of my cage and set me free.

“Yours,” I agreed. I curled a hand around the nape of his neck, holding him to me.

“ Mine ,” I vowed, settling my other hand against the steady thump of his heartbeat. I could feel the delicious heat of his skin through the thin cotton of his shirt.

His lips curved into a devastating grin. “Yours,” he agreed, rocking his hips into me.

My head dropped back with a groan, every nerve ending alight with anticipation and awareness.

He exhaled slowly. “I love you.” His lips blazed a scorching trail across my collarbone.

“Then show me.” I arched a brow, a teasing dare I knew would have an irreparable effect on the alpha in front of me.

His grin turned absolutely feral, more wolf than human, a second before his mouth claimed mine.

The kiss was hot and drugging, pulling me under and twisting my body in an undercurrent of sensations that had me gasping for air. My fingers curled into his shirt, fisting the material so I had something to hold on to before my legs gave out.

His tongue slid into my mouth, invading and conquering. His kiss demanded everything I had to offer and more, but I was happy to surrender it. Happy to give him anything I had left to offer.

A hand slid around me, his massive palm splaying across on the small of my back as I arched into him. The prominent ridge in his jeans pressed against me. I rubbed myself against him, needing relief from the heady pulse that thundered through my body.

His hand slid lower, drifting over the curve of my ass and squeezing. He released a low, appreciative male groan, but kept going until he caught the back of my leg and lifted. The change in angle pressed my center against him, and now I whimpered.

He lifted me effortlessly into his arms, easily absorbing my weight with his strength. My legs came around him, twisting around his body as I tried to get closer still.

Our teeth clashed together in a frenzied kiss as he started moving, walking. He carried me up the stairs and to our room, kicking the door shut with his foot. Seconds later, I gasped as he tossed me on the bed.

I landed sprawled on my back and managed to push up onto my elbows to see Remy reach behind his neck and fist his shirt in one hand, pulling it over his head and dropping it to the floor by the bed.

Shit .

It took me a second to remember to breathe again as my eyes roved over all the planes and dips in his torso, every muscle sculpted out of granite.

He was, in a word, perfection.

And he was, in another word, mine.

I leaned forward, snagging one of the belt loops on his jeans and tugged him closer. With a teasing grin, he knocked my hand away. He reached down, deftly undoing the button and zipper of my jeans before I could blink. A second later, he peeled them from my body, tossing them over his shoulder.

My breath caught as he stared down at me, his eyes ravenous and his tongue darting out to wet his lips. I could hear the whooshing of my blood as it roared in my ears, my breaths coming hard and heavy.

His dark gaze dragged slowly up my body before latching onto my eyes. They were twin flames of want and need trying to decide what part of me to devour first.

For a heartbeat, I was almost nervous and embarrassed. But there was no mistaking the love in his eyes, the reverence in his hands when he reached out and traced the feminine arch of my hip.

He slowly lowered himself to his knees beside the bed, using his hands to drag the thin material of my panties down my legs.

I held my breath for a second. In the stillness of the room, I could hear the rustle of lace and satin as my underwear hit the floor.

Remy nudged my legs apart, pressing his mouth to the inside of my thigh before draping it over one shoulder. He moved to the other leg, kissing his way up in a sinfully delicious trail that made my hips jerk.

I didn’t know which one of us groaned louder when his tongue licked up my center. I gasped, my hands fisting in the fabric of the bedspread as my back arched.

“Your taste addictive as hell.” His throaty words were a direct line to the throbbing pull between my legs. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to squeeze my legs shut or open them as wide as I could.

I reached for him, and he threaded my fingers with his, using his other hand to trace the inside of my thigh as his tongue made another pass, licking me from my entrance to my clit. His lips suckled the needy bundle of nerves into his mouth gently as he worked a finger inside of me.

Mindless with need, I moved my hips, finding the natural rhythm of his finger pumping into me as his lips and tongue teased my clit.

I gasped his name, my hand tangling in his hair as he added a second finger. He slowly worked me up, the peak of my orgasm just hanging out of reach. The second I was ready to topple over the edge, he changed the speed of his mouth or the angle of his fingers, finding new places to torment. I lost count of how many times he brought me to the edge, only to drag me back.

“Rem,” I finally whimpered, looking down at him.

He looked up at me, his dark eyes hooded as he stared back at me from between my legs before dropping them back to what he was doing.

His fingers rubbed a spot inside of me that had stars bursting behind my eyelids. When his teeth grazed my clit a second before he sucked it hard into his mouth, I shattered apart with a strangled cry.

My body slowly floated back down to earth as he kissed his way up my body, taking the time to worship every inch of skin he found before claiming my lips in a bruising kiss.

A hand palmed my breast, his fingers twisting and teasing the peak until I arched against him, rubbing myself against the heavy bulge in his jeans.

“I need you,” I whispered, shuddering as he lowered his head to suck a nipple into his mouth.

He grinned against my skin, climbing off the bed and standing up.

I pushed myself up onto my elbows as I scooted back, not willing to miss the show as he stripped out of his jeans and boxer briefs, pausing only to toe off his boots and socks, before he was spreading my legs apart and kneeling between them.

He braced his hands on either side of my head, lowering his mouth to mine as his hips settled between my thighs, the length of him nudging my entrance.

He reached for my hands, tangling them in his and bringing them on either side of my head as he kissed me slowly, thoroughly. I hooked a leg around his waist, arching my back.

He broke the kiss with a throaty groan that made me grin.

His dark eyes met mine. “I love you.”

“I know,” I whispered back, emotion clogging my throat. “I love you.”

Another smile that warmed my heart. “I know.”

He kissed me again, squeezing my hands as he flexed his hips forward, sliding into me in one powerful thrust.

I gasped into his mouth, crying out at the sudden rush of pain mixed with pleasure. Everything in my being throbbed, pulsing in time with the galloping of my heart.

Remy paused, giving me time to adjust as he kissed my jaw, my cheeks, my eyelids.

After a few seconds, I rocked my hips into his once, experimentally, and my eyes nearly rolled back in my head at the sensation.

“More,” I murmured, needing him to move.

He lifted his hips, almost pulling out of me before driving back in with a groan. He repeated that over and over, thrusting and retreating, building in speed and intensity until his hips were slamming into mine.

I pulled my hands free, needing to touch him. My arms circled his shoulders, pulling him down on top of me as his hips snapped against mine. He slipped one arm under my back, the other hand settling between us and circling my clit. My hips jerked in response, a low moan clawing from my chest.

The need inside of me started to build, rapidly ascending as I scoured his back with my nails. It was more than just a frantic race for relief, though. I could feel my wolf, feel his wolf, driving us faster and harder.

His mouth found the curve where my neck met my shoulder, and he dragged the flat of his tongue across the skin before nipping at it. He repeated the action, but this time, bit down harder, his teeth piercing my skin.

The wolf in me howled and I turned, lifting my head enough to bite him back, locking us in a circular embrace that rippled through us. My teeth sank into his hard skin until I tasted the coppery tang of blood on my lips. The taste of him filled my mouth, awakening the animal in me. I clawed at his back, raising my hips to meet each of his thrusts even as my legs hooked around his lower back, frantic to reach an epic conclusion.

His hips pounded into me once, twice, a third time, and then I flew apart. He followed me over the edge with a roar, his teeth again biting down harder than before. The spike of pain rolled into the orgasm ripping through me until I thought I would never come back down.

Which was fine by me; I was happy to live amongst the moon and stars if Remy was with me.